Opinion: The big benefits of Auckland's local government reform are starting to come through, says Rodney Hide. Your view?

By Rodney Hide*

For 50 years, Auckland’s ability to develop and to prosper was stymied by competing leadership, complex and fragmented governance, factionalism and weak accountability.

That's what the Auckland local government reform fixed.

We took eight separate councils and amalgamated them into one for Auckland.

It was the largest restructuring public or private ever attempted in Australasia.  It was completed at speed, on time under budget with a minimum of fuss.

Previously, eight long-term plans had to be prepared; five water and wastewater companies operated; and seven district plans existed.  Now, under a unified Auckland governance structure, we have just one of each.

In delivering a more efficient organisational structure, Auckland ratepayers have benefited through lowered rates.

As projected by the Auckland Transition Agency, the new Auckland Council recently announced a below-inflation rates increase of 3.9 per cent.

To put that into context, under the old eight council structure rates across Auckland were to rise by an average of 9.3 per cent, with one council projecting a rise of up to 11.9 per cent. The reduction in rates equates to a saving of $84 million to Auckland ratepayers.

In addition to the rates savings, on July 1 the price of reticulated drinking water across metropolitan Auckland dropped by an average of 20 per cent. That's a saving of $30 million.

The reform has more than paid for itself in savings in its first year.

But the benefits don’t stop there.  The new council structure has also created other efficiencies.

Under the old councils there were 60 different categories of dog licence.  This has been halved and fees have been standardised at the lowest level.

Auckland’s libraries have been amalgamated creating the largest library group in Australasia and giving Aucklanders access to around 3.5 million items. Aucklanders can now use their library cards at any of the 55 libraries and four mobile libraries in the region.

The savings are considerable. And they are good to have. But they were not the point of the reform. The purpose of the reform was to substantially improve the governance of our largest city.

That's where the big gains are to be had.

We now have one Mayor and one council.

That's a big improvement over eight competing, confused and confusing councils.

The Mayor and the new council now have both the mandate and the legislative ability to deliver their vision for Auckland.

Likewise, the people of Auckland now have one Mayor and one council to hold to democratic account. The endless buck-passing that bedevilled Auckland for decades has gone. There’s one Mayor, one council, Auckland governance is in their hands.

Auckland decision making is now transparent and accountable. That's got to be good for Auckland.

One mayor and one council means too that central government can now talk to the political leadership of Auckland, make decisions, and critically have them stick.

That has never before been possible in Auckland. Fragmented and competing leadership simply made that impossible.

A big challenge for Auckland is transport. We now have just one entity, the CCO Auckland Transport, instead of the previous nine local transport entities that existed in the region. We have for the first time a coherent, region-wide approach to solving Auckland’s transport issues.

Auckland now has a strengthened and integrated governance structure.

There will be no more costly duplication of functions with eight rating authorities and a multitude of differing bylaws.

With the new governance structure in place, Aucklanders can now look forward to their city becoming a united, prosperous and dynamic region.

Auckland's future is now in Auckland's hands.

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Rodney Hide is Minister of Local Government, Associate Minister of Education and Minister of Regulatory Reform. He is a member of the ACT Party, and until April 2011 was its leader.